Broadjam
Encyclopedia
Broadjam is a US
-based music
community website, founded in September 1999. The service is aimed primarily at independent musicians. Users can interact with other artists, enter contest
s, and collaborate with peers through email, review
s, blog
s and other social networking
tools. Broadjam also works with related industries to provide various licensing
opportunities, including placement in film
s, TV shows
, advertising campaigns
and video games, radio play and professional reviews.
Broadjam claims to be one of the world's largest web communities catering to independent musicians. The site has an online database of over 300,000 searchable songs and is home to approximately 85,000 artists from all over the world.
The company was founded by Roy Elkins with assistance from Stephanie Essex Elkins, a former corporate sales and marketing executive, classical singer
, and classical music radio deejay
, with the intention to provide promotional services for unsigned musicians. The company is based in Madison, Wisconsin
. Roy was formerly the Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Sonic Foundry
.
Broadjam offers a variety of services for artists to gain exposure and feedback. Musicians make up the bulk of the site's membership
. Broadjam also offers template-based hosting services
to help members create their own website
.
Broadjam was founded in 1999 and the site initially launched in 2000. Broadjam was originally headquartered in New Glarus, Wisconsin
and relocated in 2003 to Madison, Wisconsin
. The site was originally developed to provide services to independent musicians hoping to get their foot in the door of the music industry. Over time the service has evolved, and now provides a wide range of services for artists, and music industry professionals.
category, and three other varying categories each month. Artist reviews and a scoring system based on "Good", "Better", or "Best" are used to determine a winner.
Members can submit their songs for radio play, professional reviews, or placement in films, TV shows, commercials, and video games.
Music supervisors for film and television can utilize Broadjam to provide music for feature films, TV shows and commercials.
Broadjam Radio Opportunities allow artists to distribute music to radio stations in the United States. Broadjam sends broadcast quality audio directly to each selected station. The Broadjam Pro Review service is used to deliver music to music industry professionals for review.
Members are able to give one another feedback through a reviewing mechanism by choosing to review songs in a specific genre or simply review random songs from the entire site. The highest rated songs are presented in the Broadjam "Top 10s". Broadjam has 230 different Top 10 charts sortable by genre, region, production style and reviewer demographics. All Top 10s are based on fan and artist reviews and are automatically updated daily.
Broadjam offers hosting services to premium members. The service allows artists to host their existing sites or create one using templates.
Artists have the option to mark songs for download in the MP3
file format. Members can browse the Broadjam library by genre
, region, production, or based on "fan
picks".
, and the Madison Area Music Awards.
Broadjam also provides a music encoding service. The service is used by major record label
s for encoding
, cataloging, and metadata
projects.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-based music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
community website, founded in September 1999. The service is aimed primarily at independent musicians. Users can interact with other artists, enter contest
Competition
Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...
s, and collaborate with peers through email, review
Review
A review is an evaluation of a publication, a product or a service, such as a movie , video game, musical composition , book ; a piece of hardware like a car, home appliance, or computer; or an event or performance, such as a live music concert, a play, musical theater show or dance show...
s, blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s and other social networking
Social network service
A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...
tools. Broadjam also works with related industries to provide various licensing
License
The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...
opportunities, including placement in film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s, TV shows
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
, advertising campaigns
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
and video games, radio play and professional reviews.
Broadjam claims to be one of the world's largest web communities catering to independent musicians. The site has an online database of over 300,000 searchable songs and is home to approximately 85,000 artists from all over the world.
The company was founded by Roy Elkins with assistance from Stephanie Essex Elkins, a former corporate sales and marketing executive, classical singer
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, and classical music radio deejay
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
, with the intention to provide promotional services for unsigned musicians. The company is based in Madison, Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
. Roy was formerly the Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Sonic Foundry
Sonic Foundry
Sonic Foundry is the former developer of various media software suites, which were purchased by Sony in late 2003 for $18 million in cash and the assumption of certain liabilities and obligations...
.
Broadjam offers a variety of services for artists to gain exposure and feedback. Musicians make up the bulk of the site's membership
User (computing)
A user is an agent, either a human agent or software agent, who uses a computer or network service. A user often has a user account and is identified by a username , screen name , nickname , or handle, which is derived from the identical Citizen's Band radio term.Users are...
. Broadjam also offers template-based hosting services
Internet hosting service
An Internet hosting service is a service that runs Internet servers, allowing organizations and individuals to serve content to the Internet. There are various levels of service and various kinds of services offered....
to help members create their own website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
.
History
New Glarus, Wisconsin
New Glarus is a village in Green County, Wisconsin, United States at the intersection of Wisconsin Highways 69 and 39. It has a population of 2,304 according to the 2010 census. Since 2000 it has had a population growth of 9.09 percent. The village, as well as the town that surrounds it, was named...
and relocated in 2003 to Madison, Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
. The site was originally developed to provide services to independent musicians hoping to get their foot in the door of the music industry. Over time the service has evolved, and now provides a wide range of services for artists, and music industry professionals.
Features
Broadjam holds a variety of sponsored contests that aim to expose and reward exceptional musicianship and songwriting. Broadjam hosts 5 "Song of the Month" contests each month – one general category, one lyricLyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
category, and three other varying categories each month. Artist reviews and a scoring system based on "Good", "Better", or "Best" are used to determine a winner.
Members can submit their songs for radio play, professional reviews, or placement in films, TV shows, commercials, and video games.
Music supervisors for film and television can utilize Broadjam to provide music for feature films, TV shows and commercials.
Broadjam Radio Opportunities allow artists to distribute music to radio stations in the United States. Broadjam sends broadcast quality audio directly to each selected station. The Broadjam Pro Review service is used to deliver music to music industry professionals for review.
Members are able to give one another feedback through a reviewing mechanism by choosing to review songs in a specific genre or simply review random songs from the entire site. The highest rated songs are presented in the Broadjam "Top 10s". Broadjam has 230 different Top 10 charts sortable by genre, region, production style and reviewer demographics. All Top 10s are based on fan and artist reviews and are automatically updated daily.
Broadjam offers hosting services to premium members. The service allows artists to host their existing sites or create one using templates.
Artists have the option to mark songs for download in the MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
file format. Members can browse the Broadjam library by genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
, region, production, or based on "fan
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
picks".
Pro Services
As part of its Professional Services group Broadjam provides an online mechanism for the tallying of votes for use in popular music award ceremonies. Current customers of the service include the Academy of Country MusicAcademy of Country Music
The Academy of Country Music was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Whereas the Country Music Association, founded in 1958, was based in Nashville, the Academy sought to promote country music in the western states. Among those involved in the...
, and the Madison Area Music Awards.
Broadjam also provides a music encoding service. The service is used by major record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
s for encoding
Ripping
Ripping is the process of copying audio or video content to a hard disk, typically from removable media. The word is used to refer to all forms of media. Despite the name, neither the media nor the data is damaged after extraction....
, cataloging, and metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
projects.